Datsyuk The Playmaker…by Momma Gouche

After a mundane round of play San Jose’s Devin Setoguchi tips the puck past Jimmy Howard at 17:18 of the first period Sunday night. The Sharks went one up on the Detroit Red Wings. At 15:32 of the second Joe Pavelski gave San Jose their second goal. But less than a minute later Niklas Kronwall shortens the lead to one. At :54 of the third Logan Couture backhand one past Howard and the Sharks took a 3-1 lead. The series looked like it was nearly over as San Jose appeared to be in Command. But Detroit and Datsyuk were not about to give up so meekly. Datsyuk seriously took up the role of Playmaker and set up a goal for Janathon Ericsson at 3:43 and Danny Cleary slaps one in at 5:29 and the score was tied at 3-3. Overtime … again … became a possibility, until Datsyuk sets up another coup, resulting in Tomas Holmstrom tipping the leading goal in at 13:52. A 3-1 lead in the game had been carelessly blown away, as the Sharks were running around in circles, trying to catch the Red Wings. A 3-0 lead in the series for the San Jose Sharks had come down to a possible tie in the sixth game in Detroit. Both Jimmy Howard and Antti Niemi played solid games, but as a novice judge of goalkeepers, I somewhat question Niemi’s move on Ericsson in the third.